Friday, December 30, 2016

New Year's Eve is finally almost here. Thank god. A lot of spots in our area are doing things (or, in some cases doing nothing on purpose.) Check them out:

Colony Club at 3118 Georgia is having a party with no cover, a food truck, beer deals, karaoke, face painting, DJs, a funk band and more.

Looking Glass also has no cover with a free whiskey shot at midnight, $20 champagne bottles, $6 beer and shot deals and tributes all night. Here's their Facebook invite.

No cover at the Midlands too with live music starting at 9 pm.

Wonderland has a toast at midnight and DJs, plus brunch all day and a $10 cover, or $15 for couples.

Little Coco's at 14th and Randolph is doing two seatings for dinner, a 3 course and 5 course option. It sounds delicious.

The Red Derby is doing a "Decades of Decadence" party: 1977 upstairs and 1997 downstairs with deals and decade-specific drinks and shots. No cover and a free champagne toast at midnight! They have an 80s brunch from 11am-5pm on the 31st too.

El Chucho is doing an "all you can Mexican" New Years with unlimited tacos plus tips and salsa for the table and elote for each person, and drinks for $56.17, and I think also unlimited margaritas and draft beer.

Friday, December 23, 2016

The Airedale, the cool European pub at 14th and Spring, is hosting a Festivus party today which sounds awesome:

Just wanted to let you guys know that we’ll be celebrating Festivus here again at The Airedale on December 23rd!

Just like last time we will have a Festivus-inspired pre-fixe menu and themed cocktails all night (Feats of Strength, Cosmo Kramers) . We also invite you to air your grievances around our authentic Aluminum Festivus pole (and experience its excellent strength-to-weight ratio).

There will be no tinsel. We find it distracting.
Happy Festivus!

Festivus, in case you aren't familiar, is a hilarious fake holiday invented on Seinfeld. And even if you are familiar, this is still funny.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

The holidays are coming up, and I was thinking about local options for buying gifts from local small businesses in our area. Here's what I've come up with, and let us know in the comments if you have others!

There are some nice vintage stores in the area too, like Mom n Pop on Georgia, and Bentley's and Fia's Fabulous Finds on Upshur -- you could get a gift certificate or find something interesting. Attic DC is also selling gift cards that works at numerous vintage stores.

Friday, December 16, 2016

There's a new food option in the area, as Zippin' Chickin' and Fish has just opened at 2901 Georgia, at the corner of Georgia and Harvard. The space was previously A&H Catering (which is owned by the same person, DJ Jordan) and they have renovated the inside and outside.

The menu is pretty big: fried chicken, chicken and waffles, fried catfish and shrimp, crusted fish filet, chicken and fish sandwiches, shrimp po'boys and more. Sandwiches run from $3.50 to $8 and entrees are the same, so pretty reasonable. They also offer combo meals up to $12 and sides: crispy french fries, fried rice, cole slaw, collard greens, onion rings, mac & cheese, potato salad, and a vegetable of the day, plus corn muffins or hush puppies. Sounds pretty delicious.

Here's more about the spot, which also has a food truck. They're also planning to open a patio in the Spring.

This is to announce the Grand Opening of Zippin' Chickin' & Fish. We had our "soft" opening during the month of October 2016. We've fine tuned some things and at 11:00 am on Wednesday, 14 December 2016, our take out windows are up to take your order. Take a look at our Special Board, posted right in the front and on the side of the building. We offer a Chickin & Fish special daily, as well as a Chickin & Seafood soup, daily. We will operate on Winter Hours during the months of December 2016, January, and February 2017. Starting the 15th of January 2017, we will start taking call-in orders. And in March 2017, we will start our Saturday and Sunday brunch service, featuring Shrimp & Grits and Chickin & Waffles.

Our menus are up, so check them out on the building or on our web site, "zippinchickin.com" and like us on Facebook - "zippinchickin" Follow our food truck and see where it goes.ZIPPINCHICKIN.COMfacebook - "zippinchickin"

Thursday, December 15, 2016

This is great news! The Columbia Heights Initiative and other local groups have been working for some time to become an official, city-recognized Main Street organization, and a few weeks ago they got it! Which means they get $200,000 in grant funds for improvements, staff, cleanups, facades and more for our area. The city describes the goal of the Main Street program as:

Here's what Brianne Dornbush, director of Columbia Heights Initiative, had to say about some ideas:

As for general plans, we will continue to host community events that bring people together, work with local businesses to connect them with resources and support to grow and thrive in the neighborhood, and work to continue to build unique partnership across sectors. We will be working with both Mount Pleasant and Columbia Heights to serve and connect both neighborhoods- while maintaining and celebrating their distinct identities.

Here's more about the Main Street program from the city. Dupont, Shaw, Barracks Row and H Street are other areas with Main Street groups.

The area where the Columbia Heights/Mt. Pleasant Main Street will operate is Mt. Pleasant Street from Harvard to Park, 14th from Harvard to Spring, 11th from Kenyon to Park Monroe, Irving from Mt. Pleasant to 11th, Park from 14th to 11th, and Kenyon from 14th to 11th. (See the map I made below.)

Community Nonprofit
Earns Main Street Designation, Funding for Neighborhood Development

(WASHINGTON,
D.C.) – TheColumbia Heights Initiative has been announced as the
newest designee of the DC Main Streets program by the Department of Small and
Local Business Development (DSLBD). Their Columbia Heights/Mount Pleasant
Main Street will join eleven other DC Main Streets programs that have been
accredited through DC Main Streets and the National Main Street Center, Inc. As
a DC Main Street designee, Columbia Heights Initiative will implement programs
and services to support the growth and development of neighborhood businesses
and the revitalization of the commercial corridors of Columbia Heights and
Mount Pleasant.

The
Columbia Heights Initiative, responsible for the eleven-year running of the
Columbia Heights Day festival, took major strides to develop into a stronger
community organization over the past year. In 2016, the Columbia Heights
Initiative volunteer Board of Directors hired Brianne Dornbush as the
nonprofit’s first Executive Director. Under their collective leadership, the
organization profoundly expanded its presence and impact in the community by
introducing a series of new community events, creating monthly volunteer and
networking opportunities, developing a business and nonprofit network, and
building an enthusiastic and active volunteer corps.

The
$200,000 grant from DSLBD will allow the Columbia Heights Initiative to provide
technical assistance to support capacity building, business retention, program
design and implementation, and commercial-revitalization planning to maintain
the traditional and unique character of the distinct neighborhoods included in
the Columbia Heights/Mount Pleasant Main Street boundaries. DC Main Streets, managed
by DSLBD, is the coordinating agency that oversees the locally designated
nonprofit Main Streets organizations. Funding is made possible through the
Commercial Revitalization Assistance Fund. The grant will be matched with
private-sector funds raised by Columbia Heights Initiative. Columbia Heights
Initiative’s commitment to the community and intentional relationship
development has garnered broad community support, ideally positioning the
organization to manage this new Main Street Program.

In celebration
of this award and the impact of the organization over the last year, the
Columbia Heights Initiative is hosting its inaugural Columbia Heights Night
gala fundraiser on Friday, December 2nd at 7pm.

“We invite all our neighbors from across DC to join us as we
celebrate this tremendous achievement,” says Dornbush. “We are grateful for the opportunity to continue to serve
our community as a DC Main Street and we welcome all who want to see the good work of the Columbia Heights
Initiative continue to come out for a night of fun at our special event.”

The evening will feature a
“Taste of Columbia Heights” buffet catered by some of the neighborhood’s
beloved restaurants, live local music by the Harry Bells, a silent auction, and
specialty gifts and raffles. The proceeds from this event will go toward
supporting the continued growth of the organization as it works to build a
successful DC Main Street Program in Columbia Heights and Mount Pleasant.
Tickets can be purchased for $75 through the Columbia Heights Initiative website
at cohidc.org.

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

The City Paper reports that celebrity chef Alex McCoy is closing Cajun spot Tchoup's Market on Dec. 23, and will be giving up the lease when it expires in 2017. They'll be hosting various private dinners and pop-ups until then.
This is the exact opposite of what McCoy said when Alfie's closed in June, which was frustrating to its fans. At that time, McCoy said they love the neighborhood and are not leaving. Here's a comment on that blog post in response to someone saying McCoy doesn't like Park View:

Quite the opposite, actually. We love this neighborhood. Extended our lease and are staying longer. Our team, both FOH and BOH will be staying with the new concept and i can't tell you how excited we are for what we have planned to replace Alfie's and for what we have planned at Upshur. Alfie's was always planned to be a temporary popup and the choice to move downtown was only made because the facilities at Upshur are not adequate nor will we have the space to build a full kitchen. Our partnership has been active in the community & plans to continue to be. So, if you are looking for someone who loves Parkview and wants to partner with the community to keep the neighborhood thriving, you dont need to look much farther. We are already here and have been here. Looking forward to serving you! Alex from Alfie's

What else is strange is that the City Paper says the move is so they can focus on the new location of Alfie's, but they still don't know where it will be. McCoy will instead be popping up Alfie's in New York, London and Bangkok in the future.

Tchoup's has also been the home of the Nok Noi Thai noodle pop-up on Wednesdays and Thursdays. That will presumably also be going away.

The article also doesn't mention the British sandwich place he was supposedly opening on Upshur Street, just that he owns the building. That doesn't seem like a great sign either.

If you like the Tchoup's food or vibe, better check it out soon. Or don't, he doesn't seem to care either way.

UPDATE: On Twitter they told me they're currently working on the British sandwich place on Upshur, so at least a small bright spot.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Upshur Street and Petworth have been blowing up lately with new restaurants and bars, and another new one seems to be a hit: Ruta del Vino, a Latin American restaurant that opened earlier this month at 800 Upshur, the old Riyad Market.

Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema wrote about the spot earlier this month, saying it had "all the makings of a neighborhood hit." He raved about the grilled octopus, ceviche, carne asada, roast chicken, and more. He wasn't a fan of the Cubano sandwich though, which was echoed on Yelp.

He also liked the wines and reasonable prices for cocktails and happy hour deals -- for example, the spot has happy hour with $5 cocktails of the day, $4 glasses of wine and $2 snacks like fish tacos, pupusas or masa fries from 5-7pm, which is pretty great. See below for the info.

The Post article also has some nice photos; the place looks great inside.

It was opened by Justin Logan, a trained chef who formerly worked at the Cato Institute but loved Latin American food.

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Last night I popped into Odd Provisions, the cool new corner store from Room 11 alums Jess Woods and Rachel Mowrer at 11th and Lamont, and I really liked it. It's a one stop shop for a lot of things, and they have really good quality stuff.

They have a lot of produce, beer and wine, snacks, and lots of groceries from local and craft vendors, as well as nice frozen items, baked goods and in-house premade things like sandwiches and salads. There's also a lot of kitchen staples like olive oil, pasta and pasta sauce, and a lot more.

Woods said the premade sandwiches and salads have been popular, especially a pimento cheese sandwich that was selling so well they started selling just the pimento cheese separately. The baked goods are from Paisley Fig, which also makes them for Room 11 -- other things available were quiche, the pot de creme from Room 11, cheesecake and more. I plan to go back for one of those sandwiches soon.

I didn't snap a good photo of the produce but it looked pretty nice too, and there was a wide range of things, plus eggs and dairy items. They also have ice cream from Milk Cult -- remember them, they had a tasty coffee, breakfast sandwich and ice cream sandwich popup on Georgia Avenue a couple of years ago. It looks like they re-used some of the old refrigerators from the former tenant, Arthur's Grocery.

There was also a nice beer and wine selection, I picked up some Ghost White IPA from Three Stars. The beers ranged from six packs to bigger bottles of fancy craft beers, a lot of it local or from small breweries.

Woods said planned to start offering coffee in January, as well as possibly longer hours too. Currently they're open 11am-9pm.

It's definitely a neat, convenient spot, and they have a lot of what you're probably looking for. Also sounds like a good spot for a tasty to go lunch or dinner. They also have an online shop on their website.

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

In October we learned that the replacement for Chez Billy was going to be Ten Tigers Parlour, an "Asian street food lounge" from chef Tim Ma and the Hilton brothers, who run the Gibson and many other spots around town. And now we know when: the Washingtonian reports it's opening Saturday.

The place looks amazing from their photos, and sounds pretty cool too: they'll feature soup dumplings, inexpensive cocktails, and other Asian inspired fare for dinner, as well donburi rice bowls, skewers, bao (buns) and noodle dishes, which will be available for lunch and dinner both. They'll also be open during the day with tea and coffee.

The prices seem reasonable too, like $12 for the handmade pork, chicken or veggie soup dumplings and $11 for Marco Polo noodles, an Italian-Chinese fusion dish. Drinks and beers will also be reasonable with things like a gin and tonic for $5 or $6 up to $10 for a Thai whiskey manhattan, plus lots of "aggressive" happy hour deals.

The City Paper has more on the menu, with items like a variety of pan fried dumplings and other dishes, all ranging from $7-$12 -- three types each of soup dumplings, skewers, noodle dishes, bao, and rice donburi with a few veggie options.

The pricing sounds like they learned a lesson from Chez Billy, which had to drop their prices after being open for a while.

"We’re trying to make it flexible for the neighborhood," Ian Hilton said to Washingtonian. "I feel good about the fact that they’ve told me what they want."

During the day, they open at 11am with free wifi and plugs for laptops and things like Vietnamese and French press coffee, Thai ice tea, and bubble tea. Eventually they'll add Chinese sweets and pastries too. Sounds like it could be a great spot for folks who work from home.

The City Paper says the interior will look "unrecognizable" to fans of Chez Billy, but to me it's pretty similar with more old timey Asian art like tapestries, though they have changed the layout somewhat.

They're open 11am-2am Sunday-Thursday with food service til 9, and 11am-3am on Friday and Saturday with food service til 10.

They're at 3813 Georgia Avenue NW. Their website is up but there's not much on it. Photos from their Instagram.

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Here's an awesome way to help DC SCORES, the local nonprofit that provides after school programs for kids with poetry and soccer.

And all you have to do is eat at any Chipotle in the city and bring the above flyer, show it to the casher on your phone, or just tell them you're supporting DC SCORES!

Pretty awesome! It runs from 10:45am to 10pm and they'll provide 50% of the proceeds to DC SCORES.

Here's more about DC SCORES.

DC SCORES has a team-based approach for providing youth with the arts, athletics, and academics that will engage and enrich their lives. DC SCORES builds teams through after-school programs for 1,500 low-income DC youth at 44 schools by instilling self- expression, physical fitness, and a sense of community. DC SCORES accomplishes this in an innovative model combining poetry and spoken word, soccer, and service-learning year-round. We have worked with over 8,000 students since our founding in 1994 and we aim to serve EVERY child in the District deserving of a team who does not have one.
DC SCORES is an affiliate and flagship of America SCORES, the nation’s largest inner-city soccer and literacy program with programs in 14 cities. For more information, please visit www.DCSCORES.org

Monday, December 5, 2016

There's a lot of events this week, and the Georgia Avenue Community Development Task Force has compiled them here. Check it out -- a hearing on the Bruce Monroe and Park Morton plans, food distribution, a holiday potluck and some community parties:

The Zoning Commission will hold hearings on the requested zoning changes for the Bruce Monroe Park on December 5th and on the Park Morton site on December 8th. You are welcome to testify at the hearing from 6:30-9:30 pm at 441 4th St NW (Jerrily R. Kress Memorial Hearing Room). The hearing is an opportunity for you to voice your views about the project. If you can’t testify in person, you can still voice your opinion by sending a letter to the Commission via email by Monday, Dec. 5 at 2:00 p.m.

Free Food Distribution – Monday December 5th & December 19th from 5-7

The Christ Embassy Church will host a food ministry at the Emergence Community Arts Collective – 733 Euclid St. NW on the first and third Mondays. Anyone is welcome to pick up an assortment of free fresh fruits and vegetables during these hours. RSVPs are helpful, but not required. Distribution will be first come, first served until the food runs out. To RSVP, contact Sylvia at (202) 462-2285 or sylvia@ecacollective.org We will also need volunteers to help with unloading and distribution from 4-7pm.

Wednesday December 7th: Park View UNC Holiday Pot Luck

Meet your neighbors, learn more about UNC activities and celebrate the close of 2016 from 7-8pm at the Park View Rec Center at Warder St. and Otis Pl. Bring a dish to share!

Pleasant Plains Holiday Party—Saturday December 10th

Join the Pleasant Plains Civic Association for the annual holiday party on Saturday December 10th at the Banneker Recreation Center from 12-2pm. For information or to RSVP, contact Darren Jones at colroadman@yahoo.com or (202) 723-0119

Georgia Ave Holiday Party—Monday December 12th

The Georgia Avenue Community Development Task Force will host the Georgia Avenue Holiday Party at the ECAC—733 Euclid St. NW from 6:30—10:00pm featuring food from Georgia Avenue businesses, and DJ Dwayne B. Come by and eat, dance and meet your neighbors.

If you're looking for holiday gifts, or just some neat stuff for yourself, head up to the 800 block of Upshur Street on Saturday, just to the east of Georgia Avenue. They're hosting their 11th annuals Art and Craft fair with businesses, vendors and restaurants all offering items, as well as live music, food vendors and local artists and crafters. There's also a kids' fair at CrossFit Petworth just down Upshur, next to Annie's Ace Hardware, which is selling trees!

Here's the full press release about it, sounds fun:

The Petworth Business Association (PBA) will host the 11th Annual Upshur Street Art & Craft Fair on Saturday, December 10th, from 11:00am until 4:00pm. Come shop along the 800 block of Upshur Street NW in Petworth, where businesses and restaurants will be open and vendors will be lining the street selling one-of-a-kind handmade goods.

The Upshur Street Art & Craft Fair began 11 years ago as indoor market organized by Kera Carpenter owner of the now closed Domku. Nathan Hill of Petworth based Nh.d studio has designed artwork and helped organize the fair for the last 8 years. In 2014, Julie Wineinger, the owner of Willow took the reins and expanded the fair to include a music and food lot behind Petworth Citizen. Wineinger says, "The Craft fair is my absolute favorite day of the year on Upshur Street. The Petworth community is incredibly supportive and we have such a fun time hanging out with neighbors while supporting some fabulous artisans."

The 3rd Annual Kid's Fair will be at CrossFit Petworth and feature a bounce house, kid crafts and tree decorating! As is the tradition, the Petworth Public Libary will host its annual book sale the same day.

Friday, December 2, 2016

The holidays are around the corner, and if you want to get a Christmas tree (or other tree for your holiday) there are a few local options I've heard about. If you know others, post them in the comments!

Two local schools are selling trees as a fundraiser: Bancroft Elementary in Mt. Pleasant and West Education Campus in 16th Street Heights (at 14th and Farragut.) Bancroft is selling trees this Saturday and are also hosting a holiday celebration, while West is selling trees this weekend at their school. I am not sure the hours for West.

In addition, there's a local company called DC Tree Delivery which does just that -- delivers trees to you.

Here's the details for Bancroft: they're selling trees this Sunday from 10am-4pm at the parking lot of McCormick Paints in Mt. Pleasant, at Kenyon and Mt. Pleasant Street NW, and they're holding a holiday celebration at the same time at the Lamont Park, just up Mt. Pleasant Street. The celebration has some fun events too: a puppet show from 11:30am-noon, Santa from noon to 2pm, and food, cocoa and face painting from 11am-4pm.

And here's more about DC Tree Delivery:

We deliver Premium Fraser Firs to homes, apartments, and businesses within the Beltway, and every tree comes with delivery, a tree stand, and cleanup included. Our customers can choose between a simple tree delivery to their doorstep or the full setup of their tree within their home. Either way, we always vacuum up the needles to help take the hassle out of the holidays. Now in our second year, we are excited to bring some much needed holiday cheer to the area. Our mission is to make enjoying a fresh cut Christmas tree easier than ordering a book from Amazon.

Thursday, December 1, 2016

I've been excited for this: there's a new store coming to the old Arthur's shop at 11th and Lamont. Former Room 11 staffers Jess Woods and Rachel Mowrer are opening Odd Provisions this Friday, a corner store with convenience-type goods as well as food and produce from local farms, craft beer and prepared foods like rice balls made by Seki from Izakaya Seki, the tasty little Japanese spot on V Street NW.

Jess told me via email that they were very sad to hear Arthur's, which had been in business for decades, was closing but glad that they wanted to bring in another local business for the space. "We look forward to maintaining the spirit of the space and continuing to offer friendly and convenient service to our neighbors in Columbia Heights," she said. She also found some neat historical artifacts from Arthur's when renovating -- more on that soon!

Here's a bit more from Jess, and Washingtonian has a bit too, like that they were inspired by cool corner stores in Brooklyn. They're opening at 5 pm on Friday, and there's more on their website too.

Odd Provisions will be a contemporary corner market offering a mix of traditional convenience items, specialty foods by local artisans and produce from local farms as well as craft beer and wine. We'll be offering a small assortment of prepared foods, including stocks and broths, grab-and-go sandwiches and salads, with made-to-order sandwiches coming next year. We'll also be partnering with local chefs to offer their dishes in a convenient take-home form.

I'm pretty excited that there's a cool replacement for Arthur's, and that we're getting more retail in the neighborhood. I think that's something we are really lacking.

They had a preview on Saturday, here are a few more photos from that via their Facebook.